Sri Lanka has called for ways and means to address the menace of chemical terrorism, in the wake of Non-State Actors acquiring the capability to manufacture and use chemical weapons.

Participating in the General Debate on the second day of the 21st Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to The Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), A.M.J. Sadiq referred to the recent spate of horrendous terrorist attacks and the rise of Non-State Actors. In this context, he commended the work done by the Open Ended Working Group on Terrorism under the   leadership of Dr Tony Aidoo, Ambassador of Ghana and at the Sub-Working Group on Non-State Actors, chaired by Maria Teresa Infante, Ambassador of Chile, as being important to explore and strengthen national capacities of Member States.

 
Ambassador Sadiq highlighted the urgent need for States to enhance their readiness and ability to meet such threats, and welcomed the establishment of the Rapid Response Assistance Team (RRAT) as a timely initiative, to enhance the capacity and the readiness of the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW to provide swift responses and assistance to States Parties, upon request, against the use of chemical weapons. He urged the OPCW not to limit the scope of the RRAT only to chemical weapons related incidents, but extend it to cover chemical accidents, as well.
 

The Sri Lankan Ambassador underscored   the crucial need for international cooperation and assistance in the areas of verification, capacity building and assistance & protection for the peaceful applications of Chemistry and to strengthen the national capacities in chemical emergency responses.
 

In this regard, he announced that Sri Lanka is pleased to host the Fifth Regional Basic Training Course on Emergency Response to Chemical Incidents for States Parties in Asia, organized by the National Authority of Sri Lanka with the assistance of the Technical Secretariat from 06th to 10th February 2017, in Colombo. The objective of the Program is to provide participants adequate training on civil defense, civil  protection, and  decontamination  operations  in  contaminated  areas   and  counter- measures  in  the  event  of  incidents  involving  chemical  warfare  agents  or  toxic  industrial  chemicals.